Putin: Georgia harbors terrorists

Russia's neighbor likened to Taliban

August 29, 2002|By David Filipov, The Boston Globe.

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Georgia of sheltering international terrorists in the same way the Taliban in Afghanistan once sheltered Al Qaeda. He called on Georgia to allow his military to cleanse the tiny Caucasus nation of Chechen militants who Moscow says are operating near the border with Russia.

Coming just days after Georgia sent U.S.-trained troops to restore order in the Pankisi Gorge border region, Putin's angry words raised the temperature in an already tense war of words between Russia and Georgia over responsibility for a bombing raid last week that left one civilian dead and seven wounded.

The United States has joined Georgia in rebuking Russia over the raid.

Earlier this year the U.S. sent military instructors to teach Georgian troops anti-terrorist skills to fight suspected Al Qaeda guerrillas operating in the Pankisi Gorge.

Moscow has denied that its jets carried out the dawn attack on Georgian territory, even as the Kremlin has continued to assert its right to defend itself against militants it believes are entering separatist Chechnya from Georgia.

Wednesday, Putin went further, saying Georgia was allowing Chechen rebels to use the gorge as a base to attack Russia, just as the Taliban had allowed Al Qaeda guerrillas in Afghanistan to prepare the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States.

"Is the situation in Georgia any better for us Russians? In what way? The same sort of terrorists are there, including, I repeat, foreign nationals, and they carry out attacks on our territory and make no bones about it," Putin said in nationally broadcast remarks to Russian generals. "From there, weapons and equipment are being supplied to Chechen terrorists. Russia is suffering real losses from this."

A recent report on Georgia's Rustavi-2 television station appeared to confirm Putin's suspicions.

The station reported last week that about 500 armed Chechen and Arab militants had been camped in the mountains 40 miles north of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. The station quoted local residents as saying that police had brought the militants clothes, food and tents. Georgian officials quoted by the station said they had no information about rebel whereabouts.

Putin on Wednesday expressed doubt, shared by many in Moscow, that the Georgian troops will accomplish anything in the Pankisi.

"If we were to do this together, with our joint forces, we would resolve this with fewer losses and more quickly," Putin said. "Without the active support of Russia, we will keep pushing these terrorists" back and forth.

Georgia has rejected Russia's demands to let its troops enter the gorge.

President Eduard Shevardnadze has denied aiding the rebels. To counter the Russian charges, he sent 1,000 heavily armed Interior Ministry troops Sunday into Pankisi.

Russia has long claimed that Chechens are using the Pankisi as a base for their war against Russian troops, who returned to the breakaway region in October 1999 to try to retake control of Chechnya after withdrawing in defeat three years earlier.

But Moscow has been far more circumspect about accusing Georgia of aiding the rebels or threatening military action against a U.S. ally.